
A Failed Empire
The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev
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Narrated by:
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Nick Sullivan
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By:
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Vladimir Zubok
Western interpretations of the Cold War - both realist and neoconservative - have erred by exaggerating either the Kremlin's pragmatism or its aggressiveness, argues Vladislav Zubok. Explaining the interests, aspirations, illusions, fears, and misperceptions of the Kremlin leaders and Soviet elites, Zubok offers a Soviet perspective on the greatest standoff of the 20th century.
©2007 Vladislav M. Zubok (P)2010 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















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Would you try another book from Vladimir Zubok and/or Nick Sullivan?
Yes to bothAny additional comments?
A Failed Empire was interesting in that most Americans are familiar with the Western perspective on the important events of the Cold War - the Berlin Wall, Cuban missile crisis, etc. This book uses Russian sources to reveal the reasons behind some seemingly contradictory policies pursued by the USSR, and highlighted the unwillingness of some apparently belligerent Soviet leaders to risk actual war. The book is long and detailed, but worth the trouble.A different perspective on the Cold War
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Also mostly focused on Soviet leaders while ignoring most aspects of Soviet Society. The influence of individuals on soviet history is part of the thesis so that is fine but don't expect this to be a comprehensive history as it certainly is not. No close look at soviet military, economy, etc. Best if you read a more general history of the USSR first then read this. The author does make many interesting points, especially about Gorbachev and the end of the USSR.
Informative but bias with narrow focus
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In looking at the period from 1945 through 1991, when the Soviet Union dissolved, the book looks at the actions of each of the Soviet leaders – Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev and the others – and I found it interesting to find out what was on their minds, how and why they proceeded as they did and what others in the leadership thought of their actions.
I found the book to be slow going at first and I was unsure if I could actually finish it. However either I got used to the somewhat wooden narration or the book became more interesting after the first 3 or 4 hours. All of the book is interesting enough and I found that it changed my view of the causes of some of the events covered. In particular it became clear that the Soviet Union was falling apart in it's last decade and that had someone other than Mikhail Gorbachev been head of the Soviet State things might have ended quite differently.
While this book stands on it's own I found it helpful to have also read “Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire” as the two give a very good view of the last 10 years or so of the Soviet Union's existence. The feeling that the whole system was coming apart is clear in both books. The end of the Soviet Union was an enormous political event and this book does it's part in explaining what led up to and transpired during that event as seen from the Soviet side. As such I think it is helpful in understanding the late 20th century.
As I mentioned I think that the narration of this book is a bit wooden and uninspiring. It is not bad, it is just not very good. Still, I believe this book is a help in understanding what happened and, as such, I feel I can recommend it in spite of the narration.
The view from the other side
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The feel of this book is of a number of similar essays crammed together, not edited in to a more coherent whole, and retaining overlapping, repetitive explanations. This may even be a dissertation turned into book with minimal changes, I don't know.
Brief, superficial comments on capitalism's 'modernizing ability' versus the Soviet system with no analysis of the cost of each, and the engine of each. No analysis of the decline in the United States with the advent of NeoLiberalism in the 70s from Carter to present, and the parallels between capitalist austerity and soviet overreach, and who bore the costs of these measures in both cases. No insight into the orgy of privatization and expropriation following the collapse of the Soviet Union. And of course, published just before the financial meltdown of 2007-2008, Having lives in the 13 years since this book was first published, I find it painfully blinkered to the present state of global capitalism absent even a modest socialist system.
You can't just say ideology.
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Foreign Affairs America and Russia
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ESPECIALLY: In 1972, upon Henry Kissinger's arrival on a visit to the USSR, a drunken, sedative-drugged Brezhnev insisted on taking Kissinger on a bat-out-of-hell high-speed car ride. Brezhnev also took "a terrified Nixon" on a high-speed car ride while on a state visit to America.
I recommend reading this book after watching or re-watching the movie, "Planes, Trains & Automobiles".
Potential Docudrama
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The Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev
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Great, but sometimes lacking detail
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Good but too much detail.
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Excellent
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